DISCLAIMER: Still belongs to JKR…not sure she'd want credit for this story though, so I'll take that (albeit reluctantly, but hey…who else can I blame?).
A/N: This is a short piece of meaningless drabble. I had thought of calling it (affectionately, mind you) The STUPID Story. Yeah, I was talked out of that one.
Special note - I was convinced to post this story…talked into it. I hadn't planned on posting when I wrote it. Talks with Alexis about her talks with Jenn, put these bizarre thoughts into my head (I'm a bit slow though, I think…we talked about it nearly a month ago) that just wouldn't let go. Here is the result…
If you're comfortable with innuendo, read on…
Thanks girls!
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We Can All Play
"Turn off the light, Hermione," Harry said as they walked into the small, empty room and closed the door behind them.
"No, Harry. I thought you were going to show it to me. I want to see it," Hermione replied stubbornly.
"Trust me, you'll be able to see it much better in the dark. Turn out the light."
Hermione's eyes grew wide. "You mean it glows in the dark?"
"Hermione, give me a break," Harry replied with a sigh. "You're supposed to be the smartest witch of our generation. What do you think?"
"I don't know," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "Guess it just surprises me. I never expected that it would glow."
Suddenly the door opened behind them and they jumped, turning shocked faces toward it.
"Have you shown her yet?" Ron asked excitedly. Without so much as a hello he quietly closed the door behind him.
"What are you doing here?" Hermione demanded.
Ron looked at her in surprise. "Harry told me he was going to show it to you, so I thought I'd come to see what you thought of it. Is there something wrong with that?"
Hermione turned her eyes toward Harry and dropped them when she saw him shake his head at her, silently pleading with her not to start an argument with Ron. "No," she sighed, "I guess I just assumed that since you've already seen it, it would just be me and Harry."
Ron looked from one of them to the other. "Does that mean I need to go?" he asked.
Hermione made a soft scoffing noise at Ron's obliviousness and crossed her arms in annoyance.
Harry briefly eyed Hermione before turning his attention to Ron. "No, you can stay," he sighed, the reluctance in his voice sailing right over Ron's head.
"Cool," Ron said, rubbing his hands together gleefully. "I can't wait to see it again. You know, you can see it better in the dark," he added, casting his eyes upon Hermione.
"Yeah," she replied quietly. "Harry was just telling me that."
"Want I should cut the lights?" he asked eagerly.
"Hang on, Ron," Harry said, eyeing Hermione closely once more. He walked toward her and grabbed her hand, pulling her off to the side. "What's going on?" he whispered, his lips grazing her ear and sending chills down her spine. "You're not upset about Ron being here, are you?"
"Maybe a little," she replied petulantly. "I thought it would be just us for once." She looked into his eyes and suddenly nothing seemed to matter anymore. "It's all right, Harry. I'll be fine. Just show it to us."
"I planned on it being just us too, but now that I think about it, it might be more fun with Ron here," Harry replied with a wink. "I have a surprise for both of you after I show you. Come on," he said, putting his arm around her shoulders and giving her a quick peck on the cheek.
Hermione looked at him in surprise.
Harry laughed. "One of your tricks," he said, a playful gleam in his eyes. "Isn't that what you do to me and Ron when you're trying to get our mind off something that's bothering us?"
Hermione laughed. "All right, Harry, you win. Ron, cut the lights. I'm ready."
Ron cut the lights and the room became eerily silent. Every noise seemed magnified a thousand times over in the small, darkened space.
Harry's robes made a swishing sound as he opened them and then dropped them to the floor. A zipper sounded, fingers fumbled, and suddenly the room was illuminated in a luminescent green light.
Hermione blinked her eyes, adjusting them to the sudden change of light. She stared in wonder at the stick Harry held firmly in his hand. "Wow! It's bigger than I thought it would be, judging by the way you described it. How come you never said it was that big?" she asked, raising her wide eyes to meet Harry's as best she could.
"Cool, isn't it?" Ron said, staring at it enviously. "I wish I had a stick like that. I wanna play with it, Harry. Can I hold it?"
"Hang on," Harry said, a large grin spreading across his green face. "I have a surprise."
"What surprise?" Hermione asked, intrigued.
"I just told you I had a surprise for you and Ron, remember?" he replied with mock exasperation. Hermione could practically hear his eyes rolling into the back of his head.
"Fine," she said, trying not to laugh at her visual of a green Harry, holding a long stick, rolling his eyes into the back of his head. "Stop staring at your brain and show us what you got."
"Yeah," Ron said excitedly. "I like surprises!"
"Well," Harry said, taking his time and dragging out the suspense.
"Harry," Hermione said in a warning tone.
Harry put up his empty hand in mock surrender. "Okay, all right," he laughed. "Hang on a second and I'll show you. Hold this for me, Hermione."
Hermione reached forward and grabbed Harry's stick. It felt thick in her hand so she grasped it with both.
Harry dug around in his bag. "Be careful with that," he said as he eyed Hermione shaking it up and down.
"Sorry," she said, dropping her eyes, "it is fun to play with though. Do you get to play with it very often?"
"Whenever I can. Probably not often enough though," he replied off-handedly. "I'm glad you like it. Here, let me have it back," he added, reaching his hand out for it.
Reluctantly Hermione let go. "How come you get to have all the fun? Ron and I should get to play with it too. I rather like playing with your stick." Harry looked up at her sharply and Hermione couldn't contain her laughter.
"Yeah, me too," Ron piped in. "Hermione got to play with it, how come I can't?"
"You're too rough to play with mine," Harry replied. "Remember what you did last time?"
"It didn't hit the furnace that hard," Ron muttered.
Harry eyed Ron for a moment and then smiled. "Here, why don't you play with your own?" he said, handing him a long, narrow box. "You too," he added, handing a similar box to Hermione.
"Cool," Ron said, his eyes wide with excitement as he pulled his out.
"Surprise," Harry said, grinning widely. "Now you won't have to play with mine. You've got your own. We can all play."
Hermione pulled hers out and ran her fingers over the long, hard column until her fingers grazed a button. A soft humming sort of sound filled the air, followed immediately by a brilliant blue light. "Oh!" she gasped. "It sort of vibrates, doesn't it?"
"Some of them do, I suppose," Harry replied. "Mine doesn't vibrate but it does make a sort of crackling noise when you do this," he said, waving it through the air.
Ron held his in his hand and jerked it liked he'd seen Harry do and it grew about two feet in length. He felt around for a way to turn it on. When he found it, he was illuminated in red light. "Wicked," he said with breathless excitement. The exhilaration on his face and in his voice reflected eerily in the light that surrounded him, and cast him in a spooky red glow.
"Thanks, Harry," Hermione said, trying to find his face somewhere between the green of his stick and the blue of hers. "Can we trade once in a while? You can play with mine and I'll play with yours."
"You can play with mine anytime, Hermione," Harry replied with a wink. "Anytime."
It was Hermione's turn to look surprised and Harry's turn to laugh.
"My own big red stick," Ron said in awe, totally oblivious to his two best friends as he watched the trail of red light that appeared as he waved it back and forth in front of him.
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